Chances for the hearing of the charges of rebellion and International Humanitarian Law violations against Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari and members involved in the Zamboanga siege to be conducted via teleconference looms.

So requested the Pasig judge in whose sala the case is under litigation.

Sounds to be swell an idea. It will be cost-cutting on expenses, reduction of security risks and time-saving.

Earlier, City Legal Officer Jesus Carbon Jr., said there are certain impediments facing the conduct of the hearing, such as where to subscribe the more than 200 witnesses and whether to bring them all to the regional trial court in Pasig City, which will cost the city government a huge amount of money for their transportation, food and accommodation expenses.

Given these hindrances, Carbon said the woman RTC judge proposed a teleconference trial, wherein she will be seated in her bench in Pasig City while hearing the witnesses testifying live via streaming from the city and the accused from their detention cells. And this will be decided during the pre-trial scheduled next week, Dec. 2.

Teleconferencing is the real-time exchange of information between people who are not in the same physical space. It involves the use of either a simple conference type speaker phone, to more involved installed microphone and speaker systems that allow an entire boardroom to converse through normal conversational tone.

Swell an idea as things stand, to expedite matters for the prosecutors and the interested Zamboanga City residents, the proposal must be met with approval with two open arms.

One hand, though, not aware of initial moves relative to the matter, this corner bolts from the blue as to why the case is filed in Pasig City, when the questioned acts for which the MNLF elements are accused of were perpetrated in this city.

Such a big wonder. Say you?

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Police operatives confiscated big volumes of shabu during a raid in three houses in Barangay Sangali early yesterday morning .

Well, well, this is what this corner calls police work. Not the simple grind of campaigning against non-wearing of helmets, running after itinerant vendors and the drudgery of other menial tasks that are non-life threatening or leading loss or damage to property.

We salute Supt. Felix Martinez and Chief Insp. Gary Bahoy and the men of the Special Investigation Unit, Sangali Police Station, SWAT, ZCPSC, RPSB9.

Armed with a search warrant, at 3 am they mounted raids on three houses of alleged big-time drug pushers identified as Larry Omar, Gapul Taman and Wahab Alih, all residents of Sitio Cambodia, Sangali, for violation of Republic Act 9165.

The raids proved successful as the big time drug dealers ended up arrested and big volumes of drugs were confiscated.

Those nabbed were taken to the police office while the confiscated items were forwarded to the 9th PNP Crime Laboratory for examination.

Police have readied charges against the suspects.

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Another glimmer of hope for Davao City Mayor’s entry into the presidential derby has risen. That is if we are to believe former Justice secretary and 1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III.

Banking on social ties that unite hem, Bello claimed that Duterte has another way to sneak into next year’s presidential race. That is, he said, by substituting for his fraternity brother and law school upperclassman, Roy Señeres.

Bello argued that even if they are not partymates, Congressman Seneres’ party can adopt a non-member who can substitute him.

And basically, in his other statements, Bello was positive that for Duterte to substitute Diño is a virtual no no.

Everything laid down, this corner stands on the observation that Duterte’s entrance or disappearance will be judged as how a game changer he will be. It’s then worth quoting yesterday’s remark here - “And more importantly, as an acknowledge game-changer, how Duterte would influence the votes of the candidate President Benigno III wants to win, will count a lot.”

And next, “Ergo, in the end, friends, Pres. Aquino, via his controlled COMELEC will have the final say.”

Presidential candidate and OFW Family party-list Rep. Roy Señeres has denied reports that he was going to withdraw from the 2016 race in favor of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

For his part, neither did Duterte say anything about replacing Señeres.

He kept to pursuing his bid by filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) to substitute for Diño before the deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Dec. 10.

According to Duterte, his lawyers have corrected the defect in the COC that Diño submitted to the Comelec.

Saying he does not how his lawyers fixed the problem, but that they were able to sort it out.

Don’t worry, gentlemen, if Duterte’s entry in the eyes of Pres. Pnoy will favor his choice candidate, Duterte will be in. And in to breathe it out fire.

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The other disqualification cases Sen. Grace Poe faces in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is up for resolution soon.

Oral arguments on three petitions seeking the disqualification of Sen. Grace Poe in next year’s presidential elections have terminated Wednesday, and deemed submitted for resolution after Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, chairman of the 1st Division, ordered the protestants and Poe’s lawyers to submit their respective memoranda on December 3.

Lim said all three petitions should submit their separate memorandum but there would only be one decision.

A fourth disqualification case filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo is with the Comelec 2nd Division.

The three earlier cases were filed by former senator Francisco Tatad, De La Salle University political science professor Antonio Contreras and former University of the East law school dean Amado Valdez.

The simple defense of Poe’s lawyer George Garcia is that all three petitions were outright dismissible for lack of jurisdiction on the part of the Comelec.

On the other hand, Former law dean Valdez argued, Poe interrupted her status when she renounced her Filipino citizenship in 2001, adding that the “problem was that when she reacquired her Filipino citizenship, she still maintained her American citizenship…. So from 2001 to 2006, she was an alien. From 2006 to 2010, she was both a Filipino and an alien,” he noted. (TMT)

And Tatad’s lawyer, Manuelito Luna, explained, it was clear, based on evidence that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and did not meet the 10-year residency requirement even as he admitted that the senator can be considered a naturalized Filipino citizen.

Also, Antonio Contreras argued similarly, that Poe’s residency, regardless of the date she reacquired her Filipino citizenship in July 2006 or renounce her American citizenship in October 2010, fell short of the 10-year residency requirement.

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Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is open to team up with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte even if he has entered into a “loose coalition” with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Marcos made the statement following the declaration of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) president, that the party is considering him to be Duterte’s running mate.

And waiting anxiously on the side to in the end possibly team up with Duterte is Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, known to be one of those who convinced Duterte to run for president.

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The world situation is turning from bad to worse. Nations bound united in fighting terrorism may soon end up on different sides of the fence.

This surfaced when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that it said violated its air space. And this angered Russia, with the world breathlessly awaiting to see how Russia would respond to the missile attack on their SU-24 jet, which is reportedly said to have flown into Turkish airspace for a short time on Tuesday morning.

Thereupon, NATO and the US were found on the other side of the fence at where Russia is, as they expressed support for treaty ally Turkey.